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Rating: The German band Lacrimas Profundere, initially heavily influenced by doom and old-school gothic (think of the beautiful "Memorandum"), started shifting, after a few albums, towards more gothic-rock sounds. It brings to mind the shift of Paradise Lost, and conceptually we're not that far off (this is the only comparison between the two bands). Already from "Burning: A Wish" the atmosphere changes: growls soften, screams too, as the deep and warm clean voice of singer Schimdt slowly but surely emerges, which from then on takes over. This explains the good "Fall, I Will Follow" and the present "Ave End". This premise should not alarm you: if it's true that the band has become a bit softened and commercialized (a word I use with a bit of disgust, but it serves to convey the idea), the quality of the album is all in all more than sufficient (in school it would be a C+), certainly better than the subsequent albums.
Let's get the ball rolling then. The opening "One Hope's Evening" is a good appetizer of what awaits us. The charming voice of the singer (which, it must be said, knows its stuff), an excellent chorus charged with the already well-known (to those who listen to Lacrimas) mixture of anger and melancholy, and a general autumnal flair in the proceeding masterfully sketched by the piano touches and the autumnal bursts of the guitars, which after an acoustic break explode again with all their expressiveness.
Like leaves carried by wild gusts, we take on the exquisitely gothic-rock melodies of the title track. The rhythm is one heard many times before in a landscape far from devoid of similar offerings (HIM, 69 Eyes, the (ex) Sentenced), but the Germans have an excellent foundational technique and a very versatile and emotionally engaging singer. The rhythmic "Ave End" alternates between more aggressive moments and more reflective ones, but it flows beautifully, leaving a bittersweet taste in the mouth (and memories).
Up to the fourth track included ("Sarah Lou"), the album doesn’t suffer from particular slowdowns, allowing itself to be listened to very pleasantly without giving off tedious "déjà vu" sensations. A small dip ("Amber Girl"), followed by the first lovely ballad, "Testified". It is in these pieces perhaps that the mood of the new German course emerges with greater strength: when they distance themselves from the pomp of goth rock and venture towards tree-lined avenues whose dead leaves lay on the ground, like a soft and warm carpet, that's when they know how to touch and move, just as they did with their doom in "Memorandum".
In this scheme, I highlight "Wake Down", a nerve-wracking requiem that drains from Schimdt's voice, incisive and terse like the electric thrusts, which then gradually gather pace and revive a track that seemed destined for darkness. I particularly highlight the concluding "Come, Solitude", a poignant and melancholic voice-piano epitaph, a triumph of sadness perhaps a bit manneristic, but certainly interpreted and staged with great class. A melancholic piano progression accompanies the beautiful voice of the singer, here perhaps at his peak in terms of subdued performance.
Amidst these tracks just described, other episodes of goth rock: perhaps only significant is "Astronautumn", the most abrasive of the lot, in which we also have several interventions with affected vocals, on the edge of growl/scream, which certainly benefit qualitatively a piece that might otherwise have gone somewhat unnoticed.
The C+ thus in my view is well-deserved, whether for the great esteem I have for the group (who, as already mentioned, after this album, fell into a sad self-repetition and imitation of certainly inferior bands), whether for the value of past albums, or anyway for the actual caliber of the album. Direct, with few frills, a wink to the market, but with much heart, passion, and artistic ability: these are the Lacrimas Profundere of "Ave End".
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 One Hope's Evening (03:50)
I need you or a lightning
For no land
I would let you down
All that you were
Now is fading
Your bed's a rose or a while
I beg for you
You little hope
Being alive
For you hold on
This is your last
End to be near
The green of a serenade
Falling in love means
To blow up fate
Breaking down
For a distant life
We are alone
And I am the solitude
I beg for you
You little hope
Being alive
For you hold on
This is your last
End to be near
02 Ave End (03:46)
Let us to your heart now
Let us to your soul
Deeper deeper deeper
But it's over and out
Oh let me finish it
And when it all ends
I touch you
And when it all ends
I give you all
Be mine and be higher
And swallow all you need
And we will die for us
For that time it is gone
I hate you my dear
Faster faster faster
Shall I beg for you not
But what else can I do
And when it all ends
I touch you
And when it all ends
I give you all
Be mine and be higher
And swallow all you need
And we will die for us
I have you in my heart now
Let a tear for our end
Sooner sooner sooner
Let us beg for us
End
05 Amber Girl (02:58)
Yes I want you to
I want you to be mine
To be
Fall through seven seas
One suck you can't deny
For me
Shed ballast tears my dear
For you my Amber Girl
Or set you on fire
Be mine or not I die for you
Sweet Amber Girl
I bleed for us and bask in you
Be my little heart
Flaming lips on mine
To see
Symbols on your tongue
Say it's a begin
Believe
Shed ballast tears my dear
For you my Amber Girl
Or set you on fire
Be mine or not I die for you
Sweet Amber Girl
I bleed for us and bask in you
06 Testified (04:02)
And I would
Be every single tear
And I would
Be more than close or near
But I should
Be more than nothing
But I could never be you
What a sea could be
What a sea could be as deep
And I tried
To be so over-high
And I would
Be more than testified
Should it be
A life
Can you see
Light
Are you
Are you down and down
Just for you
Testified
10 Black (04:34)
Flee Away
Dead
Ingrowing taste of gloom
Inkling ban
Consider
God denied
Worst case
Flipped away
Many times before
But now it's over
It was a lie
Sader than yours
For all tears deny
But I can't be strong
Black end come on
Let's fade away
Nevermore
To grey times always near
Damn mistake
Begotten
Torn away
Below all blames
All is bleached
Forget all your sins
Go ahead for bad aims
It was a lie
Sader than yours
For all tears deny
But I can't be strong
Black end come on
Let's fade away
For you
You had
For never and dead
Be tried be true
That wasn't for you
Let us be down
Without any crown
Embark your bad news
Your traveling's out
It was a lie
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